Rockford targets 67 'dangerous, blighted' properties for demolition

Jeff Kolkey Staff writer @jeffkolkey

Monday

May 22, 2017 at 10:32 PMMay 23, 2017 at 9:37 AM

ROCKFORD — City staff have targeted 67 vacant and blighted houses in Rockford for demolition this summer.

Rockford uses a ranking system based on factors that include safety concerns, whether utilities have been shut off and if the house was condemned among others, said Thaddeus Mack, a Rockford building code official.

"Time is of the essence," Mack wrote in a memorandum to aldermen. "In order to accomplish the amount of demolitions ... and to take down dangerous blighted structures, we will need to act quickly."

The city Planning & Development Committee tonight agreed to send the demolition list to the full Rockford City Council for consideration.

The city budgets about $500,000 a year for demolitions of abandoned structures, many of which are condemned or fire damaged. Earlier this year, the city obtained a $125,000 grant from the Illinois Housing Development Authority for demolitions.

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey

Proposed demolition list by Jeff Kolkey on Scribd

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